Monday

"I like where I'm at right now"

Hey all!! :)

Well hey, yet another week
has passed and I am again in awe at just how fast time flies. There have
been so many times this week where I have been able to see and feel
just how amazing missions are, and particularly how perfect mine has
been for me. The growth and the desire to be better is unending and I
LOVE IT. It's not very often that we are able to truly see change in
ourselves so I'm super duper grateful to have been able to see just a
little glimpse this week. The previous Bishop of the first ward I ever
served in on my mission spoke in the 3rd Ward on Sunday
with his daughter. WORLDS COLLIDING. It was crazy. Its fun to think of
little missionary me just hitting the mission field running blindly but
with a big smile on my face. It's still pretty similar....running as
fast as I can...mostly blind (still have no idea what I'm doing). It's
the best leg of the race of life so far :)

As I
have been thinking of what to write this week, I keep coming back to
some personal experiences I've had throughout my mission that have been
on my mind lately. This week was a bit tricky. I was down and pretty
much out for a few days with a nasty little stomach bug. So that was
really annoying. Mosiah 4:27
seems to be a theme of my mission. Coming up on a year ago my dad sent
me that scripture telling me quite clearly to stop pushing myself too
hard or I would not be able to finish my mission. He said it a bit
nicer than that but it was pretty clear that he was directing me to make
better choices ;) And he was right. It was a hard reality to come to. I
wanted to do so much, accomplished all the things God wanted me to. And
so pacing myself wasn't necessarily in the plan. But I have gained a
great love for this verse of scripture and what it teaches as I have
pondered it this week. "And see that all these things are done in
wisdom and order; for it is not requisite that a man should run faster
than he has strength. And again, it is expedient that he should be diligent, that thereby he might win the prize; therefore, all things must be done in order."

I want to share a little something that stood out to me this week in that verse.

So...what are "All these things"?

Talking
to literally every single person I see, have amazing personal study
every morning, work well with my companion, remember to eat a healthy
lunch, write that report to send to the zone leaders, do your hair so
you don't scare everyone away, exercise each morning, daily contact all
of our investigators, update the ward mission leader, get members to
every lesson, have a stellar nightly planning session, write in your
journal...

Basically. There's a whole lotta things.

But here's the important part

"It is expedient that he should be diligent"

So
often we get focused in doing "all the things" that we miss the point.
The point is (expedient-aka very important) that we are DILIGENT in all
things. The dictionary definition of diligent is: having or showing
care and contentiousness in ones work or duties.

So
what really matters in WHATEVER we do is that we show that we truly
care about it. That we truly love what we are doing at that moment. And
if that's all we do all day, it's okay! So sometime the way that we show
a love for life is by simply taking a step back and enjoying it. That
doesn't mean that that's all we do. Believe me, I know that's it's in
THE WORK that the true joy comes. And there is no happier work than this
one. But in order to do it, we need to exercise wisdom and order and do
the things that matter most, everything else comes over time.

So
that's my little thought of the week :) it has brought me a lot of
peace to have that perspective. It's a lesson I know I'm ALWAYS going to
be relearning and reapplying but it's one that I've needed :)

I'll end with a cool moment we had this week.

So
Jonathan has been trying to find his place in the church. He feels a
bit like the odd man out. He has a few friends, but just doesn't feel
like he really fits in. Sister Hodgson and I have been absolutely
racking our brains trying to figure out how to help him, and this week
it felt like it finally all fell into place. It came up in a lesson that
Jonathan wanted to learn more about family history, so on Tuesday
we met him at the family history center and had people help him set up
his account. Sister Hodgson and I had to leave to skype into a meeting,
but when we came back an hour later Jonathan could hardly keep a smile
off of his face. I have never seen anyone so excited and so content.
That night he called us and we talked for a good 10 minutes. One phrase
brought tears to my eyes. "I like where I'm at right now" followed by
his expression of gratitude for us not giving up on him and saying "I
found my place, I found something I can do to help people and to help
myself" Now this is coming from a 71 year old man that has traveled his
whole life. He rock climbs, he bikes distances I can only dream of, he
has lived all over the world, served in the army, he has tried every
religion, political view, and practice you could imagine looking for his
place in the world and never being content with any of it. And where
does he find it? With. His. Family. In. The. Gospel. I can't even
imagine the joy that all of his ancestors are having in knowing that
their temple work will get done (of course they can choose to accept or not :)

THAT is
missionary work. If that's the only good thing that happens for the rest
of my life, I'm completely satisfied. What a miracle the gospel is. We
can truly find our place in it, no matter who we are.

2 comments:

"If that's the only good thing that happens for the rest of my life, I'm completely satisfied."D & C 18:15. I love you Sister Fletch! And I love your testimony! (I always have) I look forward to sitting down with you and hearing lots more of your mission experiences❤️